Original News

For independent retailer Matt Woods, combining brick-and-mortar expertise with e-commerce innovation was truly a winning idea. After submitting his plan to the 2018 Reimagine Retail program, presented by the National Hardware Show®, Woods received $100,000 to put his idea to …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Todd Taber, ttaber@nrha.org Virtual Vision Matt Woods, president and CEO of family business Woods Hardware, says his favorite part of being an independent retailer is being able to decide what’s best for …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. The weeks and months after the winter holidays tend to be heavy on returns­—and retailers’ return policies can greatly impact future customer loyalty. Retailers, on average, expect 11 percent of their 2018 …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Kate Klein, kklein@nrha.org Hussey’s General Store has a history of tradition-making. The “everything store,” as manager Kristen Ballantyne calls it, opened in 1923 in Windsor, Maine. Locals have relied on the business …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Kate Klein, kklein@nrha.org Growth on the Horizon The home improvement sector is outstripping the growth of the overall retail industry—and independent retailers are finding creative and ambitious strategies to fight off …

The year 2018 has been strong for holiday shopping, but the spending hasn’t ended yet, even though Christmas is over, according to the National Retail Federation. In fact, 68 percent of holiday shoppers planned to keep shopping during the week …

When Hurricane Michael first came on the radar in October 2018, Florida residents planned to ride out the category 1 hurricane and then resume their day-to-day lives. Overnight that changed. Michael quickly escalated from a category 1 into a category …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. Ready for the Future By Renee Changnon, rchangnon@nrha.org Throughout 2018, many changes took place in the retail industry. One of those changes for independent home improvement retailers was True Value Co.’s …